David Gemmell - Dark Moon

Once more the ground beneath their feet trembled. Forin swore, but the tremor died away swiftly. The three men stood nervously for a few seconds. Then a second quake hit, hurling them from their feet.

The skull flew from Forin's hand and struck a boulder, shattering into a hundred pieces.

Tarantio lay hugging the earth, nausea swamping him. For several minutes the rumbling continued, then silence settled on the land and he rose shakily. Forin rolled to his knees and looked down at the shattered skull. 'Who'd have my luck?' he said, then pushed himself to his feet.

By mid-morning the following day they sighted the spires of Corduin. Tarantio found that he knew the guard on the main gate, and there was no problem entering the city. At the first cross-roads within, he bade farewell to Forin. They clasped hands. 'Good luck to you, big man.'

'I hope fortune favours you, Tarantio,' answered Forin with a wide smile. 'Look after the simpleton. If you cut him loose, he'll starve to death within a week.'

As he rode away Brune, who was holding onto Tarantio's stirrup, looked up and asked: 'Where are we going now?'

'To a merchant who will give us money.'

'Why would he do that?'

'It is my money,' said Tarantio.

'What will we do then?'

Tarantio sighed. 'I will teach you how to use a bow and a sword. When I have done that, you will join a mercenary unit.'

Brune thought about this for a moment. 'I'm not a fast learner,' he said, with a wide grin.

'That isn't a surprise, Brune.'

Sirano, the fifth Duke of Romark, was the image of the man who had sired him - tall, athletic, handsome, his hair black and his eyes a deep ocean blue. It was for this reason that his father, a short, burly, blond-haired man, hated him. The fourth Duke of Romark was a bitter man, who had married for love only to find that his feelings were one-sided. His wife betrayed him with the captain of his Guards, and fell pregnant by him in the third year of their unhappy marriage.

The captain died in mysterious circumstances, stabbed to death in what appeared to be a drunken brawl.

The wife was said to have fainted and drowned in her bath three days after giving birth to Sirano. Everyone agreed it was a tragedy, and there was great sympathy for the fourth Duke.

The child was raised by a series of nurses. Quick and alert, he was always desperate for his father's affection, which was never forthcoming. He never knew why. At school Sirano was the best in his year, and swiftly grew to understand the intricacies of language and the arts. By the age of twelve he could lead discussions on the merits of the great sculptors, debate the philosophical attitudes of the Three Teachers, and had written a thesis on the life and work of the soldier-king, Pardark.

Those who knew him as a young man claimed his father's coldness finally turned the boy's heart to ice on his fifteenth birthday. On the night of the celebrations he was heard to have a terrible row with the fourth Duke, who was heavily drunk.

It was after this that Sirano became fascinated by the wonders of sorcery. He studied day and night, forsaking the normal noble pursuits of hunting and whoring, and gathered to himself books and scrolls. His first spell, involving the sacrifice of a pet rabbit, went awry, the headless creature running down the long corridor of the east wing, spraying blood onto the hanging velvet drapes. His second spell was more successful and ultimately damning.

In a bid to discover why his father loathed him, the sixteen-year-old Sirano wrought the ancient spell of summoning, and called upon the spirit of his dead mother. He conducted this rite in the marble bathroom in which she had died. No spirit came, but what did occur changed the young man's life.

Somewhere during the spell he made a small mistake and instead of summoning a spirit, his spell became one of revelation. In an instant the room grew cold, and Sirano felt a curious sensation of dizziness and weightlessness. Bright colours shone in his eyes, and his body fell to the floor. His spirit, however, floated free and he found himself staring down at a beautiful woman taking her bath. Her eyes were sad, her cheeks tear-stained, and Sirano noted that her belly was still stretched and slack, evidence of a recent birth. The door opened and his father stepped inside. He was slimmer and younger, his hair thicker, and his face was white and angry.

'Did you think I would not find out?' he said.

'You have killed him,' she answered. 'What more can you do to me?'

'Much more!' he hissed. Without another word he punched her full in the face, then thrust her down below the water.

The spirit of Sirano recoiled from the sight. Her legs kicked out, thrashing water over the floor, but the fourth Duke maintained his grip until all struggles ceased.

The room spun and Sirano opened his eyes. He was lying on the floor of the empty bathroom, a small cut on his temple from where his head had struck the edge of a marble sink.

Slowly he rose.

For two years he continued to study, mastering all that he could of spell-making. On the night of his eighteenth birthday he lit the black candles in his room and placing a grass snake in a round glass jar along with a lock of his father's hair, he painstakingly worked through the Five Levels of Aveas. There was no feeling in him, no anger, no sorrow. When at last he had completed the spell, he rose from his knees and, carrying the snake in the jar, walked slowly along the corridor to his father's apartment.

There were two young serving maids in his bed. Sirano whispered two Words of Power and touched each of them on the forehead. Both rose silently, eyes flickering, and deep in a trance returned to their own beds. Drawing up a chair, Sirano gestured towards the lanterns set in brackets on the walls. They flared into life, casting flickering light on the sleeping man. His face was fat now, bloated with rich living, and a vein throbbed at his temple.

'Wake up, Father,' commanded Sirano. The Duke jerked as if slapped.

'What in Hell's name?' He glanced to his left and right. 'Where are ... ?'

'Gone. Tell me why you killed my mother.'

'Get out! Get out before I fetch my whip!'

'No more whips,' said Sirano softly. 'No more beatings or cold words. Just answer my question.'

'Are you mad?'

'As in insanity, you mean? I do believe that I am. It is not an unpleasant feeling. In fact there is some comfort in it. But let us get back to the question at hand. When you walked into that bathroom she said, "You have killed him. What more can you do to me?" You said, "Much more." Then you drowned her. Why?'

Colour drained from the Duke's face as his mouth opened, then closed. 'How . . . ?' he whispered at last.

'It doesn't matter, Father. Nothing matters except your answer. Speak.'

'I ... she ... I loved her,' he said. 'Truly. But ... it wasn't enough for her. She took a man to her bed. One of my Guards. They were planning, I think, to have me killed. Yes, to kill me. I found out.' Anguish twisted his face. 'Why do you want to hear this?'

'The man you killed. Was he tall and dark, with blue eyes?'

'Yes. Yes, he was.'

'I see,' said Sirano. 'I have often wondered why your mistresses never swell with child. Now I know.

Your seed is not strong. And you are not my father.'

'No, I am not!' shouted the older man. 'But you will be the Duke when I am dead. I raised you as my own. You owe me for that!'

Sirano smiled. 'I think not. That was just ego on your part. You robbed me of the love of a mother and a father. You have made my life miserable. But I am eighteen now, and a man. I am ready for a man's duties. Goodbye, Father. May your soul burn!'

Rising, Sirano spoke a single word. The snake in the